Chicago

October 26, 1986|By Tom Duffy of The Sentinel Staff

** Chicago, 18 (Warner Bros. 9 25509-1): They can't blame Peter Cetera, their former lead singer who departed for a solo career. But the members of Chicago have put out yet another album of slick and forgettable pop tunes.

Keyboardists Bill Champlin and Robert Lamm now trade lead vocal chores on one mundane mid-tempo love song after another.

The production by David Foster features the sort of bombastic buildups on the choruses that help these tracks get plenty of radio airplay, despite mediocre melodies and laughable lyrics. ''Forever,'' Champlin sings fervently in one such chorus, ''is a long, long time.'' Original, huh?

James Pankow's brass arrangements are the sole remnant of Chicago's once invigorating jazz-rock mix. But the horns are mere accents now, and their parts sound hackneyed and repetitive.

The album's first single, a remake of ''25 or 6 to 4,'' is a leaden and misguided attempt to give this 1970 hit an 1980s dance flavor. Like the rest of 18, the remake simply reaffirms the fact that Chicago long ago ran dry on interesting musical ideas.